New Problems and New Directions With Dr. Barbara Holmes and Brian McLaren

Everything Belongs: Living the Teachings of Richard Rohr Forward

Center for Action and Contemplation

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 723 Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2024

⏱️ 82 minutes

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Summary

How has the interplay between gain and loss shaped your life's journey, and what new possibilities does this open up for you now? In this episode, we're joined by two members of the CAC faculty Dr. Barbara Holmes and Brian McLaren as we continue our chapter-by-chapter exploration of Falling Upward with Chapter 12: "New Problems and New Directions." In this conversation, we explore the continuous journey of transformation and renewal throughout all stages of life, reflecting on personal experiences, the rhythms of loss and gain, and the deep wisdom that guides us through both the first and second halves of life. Before we dive in to the interview with Barbara and Brian, CAC staff members Mike Petrow and Paul Swanson catch up with Richard at his hermitage to hear his reflections on the twelfth chapter a decade after he originally wrote it. About the guests: Dr. Barbara Holmes is a scholar of African American spirituality and mysticism. Dr. Barbara Holmes reveals how the cosmos can expand our limited constructs of religion, race, and power. As faculty at the Center for Action and Contemplation, she teaches how God’s communal presence can inspire imagination and wisdom, especially in times of crisis. She is the author of Race and the Cosmos, Joy Unspeakable, and Crisis Contemplation. She hosts CAC's podcast The Cosmic We. Brian McLaren is the Dean of CAC Faculty. As a former evangelical pastor, Brian is a champion for a more loving, inclusive and contemplative Christianity. A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, he teaches ways to reconnect with the message Jesus lived and died for—unconditional love. He is the author of Faith After Doubt, The Great Spiritual Migration, and most recently, Life After Doom. He hosts CAC’s podcast Learning How to See. Resources: A PDF of the transcript for this episode is available here. Grab a copy of the newly revised version of Falling Upward, with a new foreword by Brené Brown here. To learn more about Dr. Barbara Holmes, visit her website here. To learn more about Brian McLaren, visit his website here. Grab a copy of Brian's latest book, Life After Doom, here. Connect with us: Have a question or thought about this season that you'd like to share with us? Email us: podcasts@cac.org Send us a voicemail here: http://www.cac.org/voicemail

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org.
0:07.5	The following poem, The Real Work by Wendell Berry, is mentioned in the latter half of this episode. It goes like this.
0:17.5	It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work.
0:23.6	And that when we no longer know which way to go, we have come to our real journey.
0:29.6	The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
0:33.6	The impeded stream is the one that sings. Perhaps you have met your real work when you have come to a place of unknowing,
0:42.3	a shift in vocation, a challenge that calls to you,
0:47.3	or a mysterious fluttering that has not yet articulated itself.
0:52.3	Father Richard speaks of this unfolding into the second half of life as working with life's
0:59.0	imperfections, its tragic sense, learning to love reality from new depths as you see out from
1:05.4	a contemplative mind.
1:08.2	In today's conversation, we joined Richard at his hermitage with a sleepy opie and discuss
1:13.2	chapter 12, new problems and new directions.
1:18.2	We ask Richard about the possibilities and limitations of institutions, relationships that
1:23.4	endure alongside the anchor of solitude, and engaging in the work that matters.
1:34.3	From the Center for Action and Contemplation, I'm Mike Petro.
1:41.3	I'm Paul Swanson. and this is Everything Belongs.
2:01.6	Well, Richard and Opie, thank you for having us back into your hermitage to talk about Chapter 12, new problems and new directions from falling upward.
2:06.6	And we wanted to begin with the way that you begin the book. We talk about ego needs and soul needs.
2:09.6	And one thing is that you pinpoint is how institutions tend to focus on ego needs for the safety of their own existence, and while the soul is concerned
2:19.6	with larger questions. So although that may be true for institutions, it's also true for
2:25.7	individuals as well. It's not just institutions. Do you have any examples that come to mind to start
	...

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